“Table 1.1 shows how the total Yellow Pages usage index varies by level of Internet use. The heaviest users of Internet are above average users of Yellow Pages while the lightest users of the Internet/online services are below average users of Yellow Pages. People that subscribe to online services use Yellow Pages almost 20% more than people that do not subscribe to online services.

Internet usage YP home use vs. Avg. YP work use vs. Avg. 20 hrs + per month 109 113 10-19 hrs per month 97 98 5-9 hrs per month 95 94 Less than 5 hrs per month 92 88 Source: Simmons National Consumer Survey Table 1.1

Table 1.2 shows the level of Internet usage by level of use of Yellow Pages. The heaviest users of the Yellow Pages are above-average users of the Internet. The lightest users of Yellow Pages are the lightest users of the Internet.

People who do not use the Yellow Pages are also less likely to use the Internet - 42% of non-Yellow Pages users have not used online services compared with 28% of the general population who have not used online services.

Type of YP user YP personal use/Internet use vs. Avg. YP work use/Internet use vs. Avg. Heavy 111 127 Moderate 108 121 Light 84 105 Source: Simmons National Consumer Survey Table 1.2

These data suggest that rather than being competitive with each other, Yellow Pages usage and Internet usage are complementary. People who are heavy users of one tend to be heavy users of the other, suggesting that this group comprises fairly sophisticated shoppers that make use of multiple media and sources of information before making final decisions.

These data stress the valuable role Yellow Pages can play as a guide to additional information on the Internet for doing shopping research.”

You are probably starting to get the picture but I want to leave this section by sharing this last bit of information again from the Yellow Pages Facts and Media Guide 2001.

Among those people who used the Internet Yellow Pages in 2000:

35% made a purchase after the average reference

69% either made a purchase or were likely to do so

21% also referred to the paper Yellow Pages in connection with the average reference.

The Yellow Pages delivers a lot of value, but is it enough?